Easy and quick chicken recipe, topped with delicious homemade pesto (or purchased from the store...), juicy tomato slices and creamy mozzarella cheese. To make this flavourfull meal it will take you under 30 minutes, and very little clean-up!

The chicken breast is the most cooked part of the bird here at home, along with turkey breast, not only because they are two of the healthiest meats, but also faster to cook on a daily basis. For this reason, it's important to vary so that we aren't always eating grilled turkey or chicken steak.

And this is one of those alternatives, simple to make and full of flavor!

Ingredients for this chicken with pesto, tomato, and mozzarella

Depending on whether you prefer to make your own pesto, or choose to buy a jar of this sauce, the number of ingredients can range from just 4 ingredients to 9:

• chicken breast
• tomato
• mozzarella cheese
• pesto sauce; if you choose to make it yourself you'll still need:

• basil
• pine nuts
• olive oil
• garlic
• Parmesan cheese

For those of you who don't know what pesto sauce is, it's a sauce created in Genoa (Italy) consisting of the ingredients described above and some salt (if necessary), since the Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) is already quite salty; sometimes Parmesan cheese is replaced by a similar one called Pecorino.

Most of those who prepare the sauce at home use blender or food processor to combine the ingredients (that's what I did ...). However, most purists say that to mix all the ingredients together we must use a mortar or chop it finely with a very sharp knife (and also a little more time and patience ...).

Originally in the recipe pine nuts weren't used, but as they are one of the ingredients present in the traditional pesto, I decided that it would be better to add some.

You can always used store-bought pesto, and there are some very good quality ones (but usually made with oil, not olive oil) but I advise you to buy one that is not too liquid (some may contain more oil) so that it sticks to the chicken and doesn't drip onto the tray while cooking.


Also if you want you can replace the grated mozzarella cheese with fresh mozzarella or even another type of cheese you may have at home, suitable for broiling.

Another suggestion is to use prolonged curing S. Jorge's island cheese instead of Parmesan cheese, thus giving a more Portuguese touch to the recipe.


Usually, in this recipe I don't recommend using whole chicken breasts, because 15 minutes wouldn't be enough for them to be fully cooked. I buy bigger chicken breasts than I cut in half, forming 2 thick steaks; however, if the chicken breasts you have are smaller, you can serve 2 steaks per person or with the help of a kitchen hammer (or other utensils such as a rolling pin or frying pan) flatten the chicken breast.

How to make

To begin, season the chicken breast halves with salt and pepper, and while they absorb the seasoning, prepare the pesto sauce (in case you're making your own).

In the meantime, cut a few thin slices of fresh ripe tomato and set aside.

Grease a tray or roasting pan with olive oil and place the steaks. Then cover them with the pesto sauce, then the tomato slices. The cheese will only be placed over them almost at the end of the chicken's cooking so as it doesn't burn.

After the fifteen minutes of cooking, remove the chicken and divide the grated mozzarella cheese or the fresh mozzarella cheese cut into pieces, over the tomato. Return to the oven only for some minutes long enough to melt the cheese topping, which will be about 5 extra minutes (depending on the oven).

As in this chicken with pesto, tomato and cheese there's already so much flavor I served it with plain white rice, but it can also be served with pasta, or a salad for a lighter meal.

 Pesto chicken with tomato and mozzarella Recipe

Adapted from "Baked chicken pesto" / Originally posted in 2017